34 HISTORICAL, NOTES ON* BEE DISEASES. 



study of Bacillus alvei, together with the experiment by Cheshire in 

 which heahhy brood was inoculated with a spray containing a cul- 

 ture of Bacillus alvei. In drawing the conclusion Cheyne evidently 

 supposed that Cheshire had produced the disease experimentally. 

 Had Cheyne known, on the other hand, that this had not been done 

 by Cheshire, liis conclusion would have been undoubtedly differently 

 expressed. 



The description which Cheyne made of Bacillus alvei is very good. 

 It contains, however, a number of statements with which he, himself, 

 no doubt at the present time would disagree. Such might be expected 

 since it has now been 26 years since he did the work. 



There is much data in Cheyne's paper of interest and value. The 

 following is a brief summary of his work : 



1 . He received a sample of diseased brood from Cheshire on August 

 11, 1884, and the paper which contained the results of his work was 

 read on March 11, 1885. 



2. He described carefully and accurately the morphology and cul- 

 tural characteristics of Bacillus alvei. His description of the organism 

 is the first one by which the identification of the species was made 

 possible. 



3. The larvae which he examined were yellowish and almost liquid. 

 This suggests European foul brood. 



4. He found Bacillus alvei in large numbers in all the larvae exam- 

 ined. This, too, suggests European foul brood. 



5. He does not mention either the presence of ropy coffee-colored 

 larvae or scales in the sample examined. This suggests that he was 

 not studying American foul brood. 



6. He evidently did not encounter Bacillus larvx, since he does not 

 mention the presence of any bacteria in the larvae which would not* 

 grow on artificial media. This, too, is very strong evidence that he 

 was not studying American foul brood. 



7. He was misled by Cheshire's inoculation experiment with bees, 

 causing a statement to be made in his conclusion which was less 

 conservatively expressed than it would otherwise have been. 



Wliile Cheshire and Cheyne did not prove the cause of any disease 

 of bees, their work is of importance in determining to what species of 

 bacteria the name Bacillus alvei belongs, and also in determining the 

 names for the different brood diseases. The microorganism which 

 Cheyne so well described has the right to the name Bacillus alvei, 

 because the species was first described by Cheyne and his work had 

 the sanction of Cheshire, who first used the name. 



It is quite certain that Cheyne was working with the disease now 

 known as European foul brood when he secured the data for his 



